


An Unspoken Truce

by Vex (lokisolo)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:44:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6699922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokisolo/pseuds/Vex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rounding a corner of the shattered passageways, she encountered a shocking scene. She skidded to a halt and instantly drew out her saberstaff, igniting one half of it with a sudden hum of focused energy. The blade shone bright yellow, tinged with red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unspoken Truce

The explosions from enemy fire had claimed the lives of countless many, but the Resistance were rapidly gaining ground during the sudden night onslaught. Most of the TIE-fighters were presently engaged in battle with the X-Wings, forced into an honorable retreat, or shot down with a thunderous blast of smoke and shrapnel. 

Rey, searching for survivors among the now-ruined section of the compound, soon found herself separated from the others. As a former scavenger, she could nearly scent from afar what could be salvaged and what could not; it resided within her as a cloying instinct, a sense not unlike sight and hearing.

She knew that she was headed the right way. It was inexplicably tangible as the winds across the rolling sand dunes of Jakku, or the strange whispers of memory in the depths of some ancient, long-forgotten tomb. All the same, she was drawn toward the pulse of one who yet lived and lay buried somewhere beneath the clamor of war and destruction.

Rounding a corner of the shattered passageways, she encountered a shocking scene. She skidded to a halt and instantly drew out her saberstaff, igniting one half of it with a sudden hum of focused energy. The blade shone bright yellow, tinged with red.

The dark figure, who had stalked her nightmares and invaded her thoughts since their last encounter on Starkiller Base, was kneeling beside a downed General Leia Organa. His face was hidden underneath a mask, but Rey could sense him eyeing her warily. He did not ignite his own lightsaber, for he cradled the unconscious woman in his arms, himself covered in blood from the wounds she had sustained. 

_Save her_ , a voice reached into her mind, pleading, open in its vulnerability. _Only you can save her._

Kylo Ren had said nothing aloud, but the desperation seemed to radiate from him in overwhelming waves through the Force. The menacing appearance of his black robes and skull-shaped metal helmet were a total contradiction to the boyish fear that rose invisibly from him and made itself heard through the voice silent to all but her.

_Please._

Rey shut off the beam of power from her saberstaff and slipped it uncertainly back onto her belt. The anger and hatred she had wrestled with for many months now warred with the sudden pang of remorse she felt for this wicked man – this _creature_ – who’d murdered Han Solo and nearly claimed Finn’s life as well. 

Ren appeared to sense the twinge of pity from her. He recoiled from it almost visibly, and the pleading voice inside her head stopped at once, but the sentiment remained hanging in the air between them without rescission. 

“Let her go,” Rey faintly heard herself telling Kylo Ren. “We will help her.”

At those words, the man lay General Organa back onto the floor with a gentleness that Rey could never have imagined of him, and he rose to his full height. The black garments that covered him completely, shrouding his true identity from the galaxy that he’d wreaked such havoc upon, were streaked with his mother’s blood. With his hands clenched into fists at his sides, he turned swiftly on his heel to depart. 

“Stay,” Rey suddenly said to him, pushed now by some inescapable urgency of her own. “We could help you, too.”

For one lingering moment, Kylo Ren stopped and stood as motionless as a carven figure of stone. He did not turn, but Rey could sense the conflict roiling within him like a cosmic storm. The dawning of hope, however, was quickly extinguished by the tide of darkness. Saying nothing at all, not even inside her mind, he broke free from the temptation to remain and strode away, concealed and elusive once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Puzzle Prompts](http://puzzleprompts.livejournal.com/) community on Livejournal.


End file.
